How digital workflows help ensure speed, security and efficiency in the digital transformation journey, starting with intelligent agreement management.
Is Intelligent Agreement Management a neglected aspect of your organization’s digital transformation, leading to a loss in business value?
In this Q&A, Kartik Krishnamurthy, Vice President, Asia, Docusign, discusses digital transformation and the ‘agreement trap’, and how organizations such as PNG DataCo are improving efficiencies with digital workflows.
Can you briefly explain what digital transformation and digital workflow mean?
Kartik Krishnamurthy (KK): For us, digital transformation means a full-scale strategic move towards shaping the next two decades of agreement management, pioneering a new frontier and category as a whole – Intelligent Agreement Management (IAM).
We know that drafting and negotiating agreements remain as cumbersome and time-consuming as ever – and the completed agreements largely remain as unstructured, flat, and disconnected files that can’t be easily located, searched, or connected to the systems and people who run your business.
According to a study by Deloitte, nearly US$2 trillion will be lost in global economic value in the upcoming year due to poor agreement management systems and processes. We call this problem the agreement trap; when outdated agreement systems and processes slow your business down and trap business-critical information inside files unconnected to existing systems of record. It is one of the greatest destructions of value in business today.
How can organizations overcome barriers and transition to seamless digital workflows?
KK: Digital transformation can be challenging for some organizations, but overcoming barriers begins with understanding the current agreement process.
Speaking to businesses to gain insights into existing workflows is crucial to allow for a comprehensive assessment of pain points and areas for improvement. Additionally, considering how the workflow integrates with existing systems is essential for ensuring smooth implementation is key.
A collaborative approach is paramount during this transition period. Rather than assigning sole responsibility to one individual, this transformation should be approached as a collective endeavor.
By involving stakeholders from diverse departments, we cultivate a heightened sense of ownership and empowerment.
What are the biggest challenges or pain points for companies when it comes to digital transformation?
KK: One of the most significant challenges companies face in a digital transformation revolves around shifting organizational culture and operational practices.
According to Gartner, 64% of CIOs see culture as a barrier to digital transformation. Cultivating a digital-ready culture requires concerted effort in demonstrating tangible benefits to employees and fostering open dialogues about the positive impacts of new processes.
For instance, replacing days spent on low-value administration and execution with high-impact deep work can make work more engaging for employees.
Another consideration is the shortage of technical skills within organizations to facilitate this change.
As businesses pivot toward digitalization, there is a growing demand for expertise in areas such as data analysis, AI, cybersecurity, software development, and more. This skills gap can delay or hinder the adoption of new technologies and processes.
Can you briefly discuss PNG DataCo’s transition and what are the lessons learned from this?
KK: PNG DataCo is a state-owned enterprise that offers wholesale services to Papua New Guinea’s (PNG) Information and Communication industry. Their services – such as enhancing affordable internet access through the National Transmission Network – are highly critical to an entire nation’s needs. As such, speed, security and efficiency are paramount.
Before incorporating DocuSign into their operations, PNG DataCo found that their procedures were riddled with numerous process bottlenecks due to paperwork and manual labor. For instance, staff had to print and organize paper contracts for customers ahead of time, leading to extensive manual work and checks before they could input the information into the online system. This process was prone to human errors.
Additionally, when engaging with contractors, approval procedures for low-priority tasks could stretch over days or even weeks. There was also that constant risk of documents being misplaced. These inefficiencies were impacting their productivity and output so there was an urgent need to streamline workflows and advance digital transformation efforts.
A lesson that we could highlight from this case study is the knock-on effect of productivity and efficiency. By moving to digital solutions, this has led to more benefits than just relieving burden from internal staff; there is also significant time reductions.
What trends do you see in the Asia Pacific region, when it comes to digital transformation?
KK: As the adoption of AI continues its rapid growth, companies will need to focus on building the foundations and infrastructure to support the massive workloads required to get the most out of generative AI tools. It is critical for leaders to be laser-focused on sifting through the noise to identify the primary areas of opportunity and the data insights that will drive tangible business outcomes.
Organizations might also want to thoroughly examine their entire end-to-end agreement processes. This is particularly crucial given that over US$90 trillion of global B2B economic activity relies on agreements each year.
Agreements are the foundation of any business, forming the basis of relationships with customers, vendors, and employees. If you manage your agreements well, chances are that you will be able to operate efficiently and grow your business quickly.
The failure to properly manage agreements is a major challenge for businesses, and results in loss of productivity and revenue.
